Saturday, September 21, 2024

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Acquire knowledge, disregard distractions

It’s 3 a.m. the night before your must-pass final. A sea of Red Bull cans, candy wrappers and note cards pile up and barricade you into a frenzied hole of hopeless PowerPoint slides.

It’s dark.

It’s light. It’s 9 a.m. You missed your final. Oops.

Now that we’ve made it past everyone’s worst nightmare, let’s talk about how finals week can be enjoyable.

The stress of projects, endless studying and, for some, graduation anxiety can drive students to the limits of human tolerance. Coffee and energy drinks are cutting into the food budget, and all you want is to pass. It can feel as if the world will end at the end of the semester.

But it won’t.

The most important thing to remember this week as deadlines and due dates pile up is that life will go on post-panic. Enjoy the time you have left this semester or, if you’re graduating, savor the last of your college years.

Take breaks often. Especially when you haven’t navigated away from Facebook for more than 20 minutes. Laughing with a friend or going for a walk can be enough to give your brain a rest and hit the studying reset button.

Remember why you came to MSU. Studying is merely a scarier version of the word “learning,” and after all, isn’t that the point of attending college? It’s a privilege to have access to the Main Library, storied professors and enthusiastic peers. Take advantage of the resources at your disposal.

Now also is the last chance to form a connection with a similarly minded classmate or fascinating professor. You — or your future self or your parents — are paying for this opportunity, so even if you’re not acing a class or failing, do the best you can to make the most of your money.

If you haven’t learned anything in a class yet, it’s not likely to be a priority this week. But if you find yourself curious about what you missed, read a chapter or two or retake the class.

If you’ve got the patience/determination/funds, the retake policy is useful. Grades less than a 2.0 can be replaced by a better grade in the same class the following semester.

Use this semester’s lackluster finish as a learning experience to do better next time. If you’re going to fail, there’s not much to do now but learn from it.

For occasional distractions here are some websites to visit:

Sporcle.com is a great quiz site with plenty of topics and time limits. It’s great for group study breaks and dangerously addictive. You’ve been warned.

Also, check out theoatmeal.com for funny cartoons, including topics from “How to pet a kitty” to “The 9 Types of Crappy Handshakes.”

Lastly, go to StumbleUpon and stagger to thousands of eccentric, cool and entertaining sites for hours. There is a legend that speaks of someone who once stumbled for 64 straight days.

They didn’t pass a single final.

Good luck.

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